A Plan to Eradicate Homelessness
The homeless—those we see each day and others living invisible lives—can succumb to bodily insults both terrible and terribly expensive, and the rest of us foot the bill unwittingly.
The costly embarrassment of urban homelessness can come to a screeching halt by moving the homeless into simple concrete houses in specially built villages on inexpensive rural land, according to Vipin Kalia, MD (www.solvehomelessness.blogspot.com).
He explains that a street person is prone to a “$1 Million Homeless Man” phenomenon, in which something like a frozen toe can lead to a hospitalization and a $10,000 to $25,000 medical bill (that’s the first one society pays for).
After the poor soul is put back on the street, if the tissues don’t heal, maggots can find their way into the wounds. The homeless man is brought back in to have the wounds treated and for further removal of dead tissue (debridement).
This cycle of frozen toes and body parts, poor healing, and eviction from homeless shelters/nursing homes leads to more debridement, and a higher level of amputation is repeated dozens of times. “Creeping amputation” becomes a way of life for the man, with him losing more and more of his limbs.
Society didn’t provide bare-minimum housing, so he ends up in a nursing home with a social cost of $60,000 to $100,000 per year, and over several years, this can easily add up to
$1 million.
Dr. Kalia proposes the creation of villages on the outskirts of town in which concrete houses, eight feet by sixteen feet, would house the inner city’s most unfortunate.
“With simple amenities in each house and a building with common dining, all homeless people could be assured of ‘three hots and a cot’ without having to be in jail,” he states.
Because the homeless don’t have cars, they lack the ability to get themselves around from one service or medical organization to another. If all the organizations could come to them, rather than the other way around, their care would be ensured.
Work opportunities for residents could be created both on- and off-site, with jobs requiring no special skills or even a required arrival time. Unlike conventional programs, the residents would have no mandatory schedule or attendance at meetings or religious services.
Those wanting to better themselves would have ample opportunities, and all others would at least be kept out of the weather. Everyone would be free to live as he or she pleased, so long as no laws were broken.
Dr. Kalia estimates that total costs of building homes (about $4400 each) and required infrastructure, along with staffing fees, would be about $38 million to cover the housing needs of 1024 or 2048 people. For more information, a complete version of this proposal is posted at www.solvehomelessness.blogspot.com.
Critics might balk at this sum of money, but he reminds them that concrete houses could last 100 years, and that the $1 Million Homeless Man scenario avoided 38 times out of 1000 inhabitants (about 4% of village inhabitants) over 10 years would pay for the whole program.
Dr. Kalia offers up a final request for help, “This is a big and perhaps shocking idea to some, but anyone who wants to collaborate and end homelessness now can call me at (317) 414-4439. If we don’t try, nothing will change.”
proposal coauthors:
Vipin Kalia, MD, has a BA in chemistry from Purdue University and studied medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine. He did his post-graduate training in internal medicine at Indiana University Medical Center at Indianapolis. He is assistant professor of medicine at Indiana University and general internist at the VA Hospital in Indianapolis.
Paul Wilson, MBA, has a BS in liberal arts from Excelsior College. His graduate degree is from Indiana University Kelley School of Business. He is a writer and editor in Indianapolis, specializing in public policy and health care.
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